4^th Global summit on Agriculture & Organic farming August 28-29, 2023 Amsterdam, Netherlands

Track 1 : Organic Agriculture

In order to maintain soil fertility and the health of people and the environment, organic agriculture takes into account a variety of ways that farming practices can affect the agro-ecosystem. To avoid issues with soil fertility or pests, it seeks to conduct farming while creating an ecological balance. With very few exceptions, synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, and artificial fertilizers are not used in organic agriculture, which aims to be sustainable, improve soil fertility, and increase biological diversity.

Track 2 : Sustainable Agriculture

The aim of sustainable agriculture is to supply the food, water, and other resources needed by society today without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. Three key goals are incorporated into the work of sustainable agriculture practitioners: a healthy environment, financial success, and social and economic equality. Growers, food processors, distributors, retailers, consumers, and waste management can all contribute to a sustainable agricultural system. For healthy, productive crops and livestock to be raised, healthy soil is crucial. Farmers are beginning to realize the many advantages of cover crops. They are crucial in preventing erosion, controlling weeds, conserving soil, and maintaining the health of the soil.

Track 3 : Agroecology

Agroecology is a field of study, a set of procedures, and a social movement. It investigates the interactions between various agroecosystem parts as a science. It pursues sustainable farming methods that maximise and stable production. As a social movement, it seeks to give agriculture several uses, advances social responsibility, promotes identity and culture, and increases the economic viability of rural communities. The resources needed to develop agroecology are in the hands of family farmers. Agroecology is an agricultural approach that resembles natural processes to produce self-sustaining farming that yields a broader variety of crops, significantly decreases the use of chemical inputs (pesticides, fertilizer, and antibiotics), and recycles resources (plant and animal waste as manure).

Track 4 : Organic Farming vs Conventional Farming

A specific type of agricultural production termed as "organic farming" discontinues the use of harmful synthetic pesticides in order to cultivate food and fiber. Biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity are all encouraged and enhanced by organic agriculture, a form for ecological production management. All food items, including meat, grains, dairy, eggs, and fibres, must be grown organically. For pest organisms to be expelled from their habitats and soil fertility to be maintained, organic farmers depend on a rise in biological diversity in the field. A healthier farm system is produced for humans, animals, and the environment by providing farm animals access to the outdoors and feeding them only organic food. Agricultural products that have been grown and developed in accordance with uniform standards are referred to be certified organic, they must be proven  by organizations which are recognized by the USDA.

Track 5 : Principles of Organic Agriculture

Organic farming is a technique to crop and livestock production that requires much more than making a choice not to use pesticides, fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, antibiotics, and growth hormones. In other terms, it is referred to as low input farming and uses natural nutrition sources like compost, crop wastes, and manure, as well as natural ways of crop and weed control, instead of using chemical or artificial agrochemicals.

OBJECTIVES OF ADOPTING ORGANIC FARMING

1. To boost genetic diversity
2. to encourage increased use of natural pesticides
3. Make sure the appropriate soil is cultivated at the appropriate time.
4. Maintain and improve the fertility and soil structure
5. Eliminate weeds, illnesses, and pests.

METHODS OF ORGANIC FARMING

1. Soil management

2. Weed management

3. Mulching

4. Mowing or Cutting

5. Crop diversity

6. Monoculture 

7. Controlling other organisms

8. Raising Livestock Farming

9. Genetic modification

To benefit the current and future generations, the environment, and the food supply, we should practise organic agriculture carefully and responsibly.

Track 6: Plant Genomics

The branch of molecular biology known as plant genomics deals with the structure, function, evolution, and mapping of plant genomes. The study of genes, their expression, their functions, and the role they play in biology is known as genomics. The sequencing and analysis of an organism's genome is the focus of the field of genetics known as genomics. The enormous number of databases that help us to understand genetic diversity are kept up due to genomics

Track- 7  Agricultural Biotechnology

Genetic engineering, which involves modifying a plant's genes using modern molecular biology techniques sometimes referred to as recombinant DNA technology, has been used to create many new plant types that are being developed or farmed by farmers. Its being commonly referred to as "biotechnology" or "modern biotechnology" includes several methods. Understanding the biology of the plant and the techniques employed to grow it are necessary to evaluate the environmental safety of a biotech plant. This information is crucial for identifying and assessing potential environmental factors. In order to promote the development of local biotechnologies, assure safe access to new goods and technologies created abroad, and increase consumer trust that goods available on the market are secure, it is crucial to design an efficient national biosafety system.

Track-8 Soil management

The use of activities, techniques, and treatments to safeguard soil and improve its functionality is known as soil management (such as soil fertility or soil mechanics). It entails soil amendment, soil conservation, and ideal soil health. To keep agricultural land from degrading in productivity over many years, both nonorganic and organic kinds of soil management are required in agriculture. Optimal soil management is particularly important in organic farming because it relies exclusively or almost exclusively on healthy soil for fertilisation and pest control.

Track- 9 Horticulture & Agronomy

The field of agriculture known as horticulture focuses on the art, science, technology, and business of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, and ornamental plants. It encompasses the cultivation, enhancement, marketing, and scientific study of non-food crops including grass and ornamental trees and plants as well as edible crops such fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, and seaweeds. It also covers issues like species preservation, landscape restoration, design, management, and upkeep of gardens and landscapes, as well as marketing and research. To cultivate plants for human consumption as well as non-food uses like garden or landscape design, decorations, etc., horticulturists employ their knowledge, skills, and technologies. To enhance plant growth, variety, quality, nutritional value, tolerance to environmental challenges, and strength of adaptability to those conditions, their area also covers plant propagation and tissue culture.

Track-10  Biofertilizers                                                                               

The use of  biofertilizers in integrated nutrient management, such as through biological  nitrogen fixation, has shown potential (BNF). To increase the availability of phosphate to crops, biofertilizers may also be utilized. The type of inoculant, the crop species, the formulation, the level of nutrients in the soil, the type of soil, the presence of pertinent bacteria in the soil, and the weather can all affect an inoculant's efficacy. Living organisms called "biofertilizers" improve the soil's nutrient content. In order to improve the soil's nutrition, microorganisms are used rather than chemicals because they are safer and do not pollute the environment.

Main roles of biofertilizers:

• Make nutrients available.

• Make the root rhizosphere livelier.

• Growth-promoting substances are produced.

• More root proliferation.

• Better germination.

• Improve the quality and quantity of produce.

• Improve the fertilizer use efficiency.

• Higher biotic and abiotic stress tolerance.

• Improve soil health.

• Residual effect.

• Make the system more sustainable

 Track-11 Transgenic Plants

Transgenic plants are those that have undergone genetic engineering through a breeding process that produces novel features in plants using recombinant DNA technology. They are identified as a particular category of GMOs (GMO). The goal is to give the plant a new characteristic that does not arise naturally in the species. A gene or genes that have been purposefully added are present in transgenic plants. This technique offers benefits like extended shelf life, increased yield, improved quality, pest resistance, heat, cold, and drought tolerance, as well as resistance to a range of biotic and abiotic challenges. Cisgenic plants are created by employing genes from the same species or a closely related one, which can be bred in the same way as conventional plants.

Track-12  Irrigation management

Irrigation management aims to use water as profitably as possible while maintaining stable production levels. In agricultural production, this usually includes using irrigation to augment precipitation. Better use of rainwater is made possible by irrigation management with controlled water deficiency, which also encourage root system deepening and increase the amount of soil that plant roots may explore. Although the applied water depth during each irrigation is less than the amount of water required for the crop, it must still be sufficient to not adversely influence the crop's growth and productivity. When growing vegetables, it is essential for product quality.

Track-13 Integrated farming

Integrated farming, also referred to as mixed farming, is an agricultural technique that involves ongoing activities involving both crops and animals. Systems of farming that are sustainable from an economic, environmental, social, and intergenerational perspective are referred to as integrated agriculture. The objective of an integrated and sustainable agriculture system is to maintain a system of healthy production throughout time, not necessarily to produce immediate outputs. Community, environment, and economics make up the three main parts of a sustainable system. In this mixed agricultural system, all wastes are recycled, resulting in minimal waste—one person's garbage is, in fact, another person's food.

Track-14  Agricultural climatology

Agriculture climatology is a scientific field that studies how climate affects the cultural conditions of agricultural plants, animal husbandry, and the incidence of harmful influences (both biological and weather conditioned), particularly on agricultural operational systems. The most significant uncontrollable elements in agricultural production systems continue to be weather and its longer-term version, climate. The climatology group is involved in a wide range of agro meteorological and agro climatological research patterns, decision-making for the length of the growing season, the relation of growth rate and crop yields to the various climatic factors and, therefore, the optimal and limiting climates for any given crop, the value of irrigation, and the effect of climatic and weather conditions on the development and spread of crop diseases.

Track -15 Crop Protection

Plant diseases and pests represent a major danger to food security because they can destroy farmers' work plants and drastically reduce yields and profits. Transboundary plant pests and diseases have dramatically increased and spread due to a combination of factors including globalisation, trade, climate change, decreased production system resilience as a result of decades of agricultural intensification, and biodiversity loss. It is simple for diseases and pests to move over international borders and develop pandemic proportions. The livelihoods of farmers as well as the security of millions of people's food and nutrition at a time are threatened by outbreaks and upsurges that can result in significant losses to pastures and crops.

 Track 16 : Precision agriculture

In agriculture, sustainability refers to the adoption of environmentally friendly practises and inputs that have no or very little adverse effects on the environment. Site-specific crop and livestock management, sometimes known as precision agriculture, is an illustration of this. It is a technique whereby farmers increase the quality and productivity of the harvest by using precise amounts of input, such as water, herbicides, and fertilisers. The field is divided into various plots, each with a varied slope, solar exposure, and soil characteristics. Therefore, applying the same treatment to the entire farm is ineffective and wasteful of time and resources. Many AgriTech businesses are working on solutions in precision agriculture to solve this problem and increase profitability while addressing sustainability issues.

Track 17: Crop rotation

Crop rotation is the technique of planting several crops in succession on the same piece of land in order to enhance the soil's health, maximize its nutrient content, and reduce insect and weed burden. The process of rotating crops is known as  crop rotation, and it is done to increase soil health, maximize nutrient content, and reduce pest and weed burden.There are three main types of crop rotation depending on the crop being planted or rotated; these include:

• Annual rotation rotation.
• Biennial rotation.
• Three-year rotation.

Track 18 : Polyculture

Polyculture is the process of simultaneously producing multiple crop species in the same area. Polyculture makes an effort to form the diversity of natural ecosystems in this manner. The antithesis of monoculture, which involves the cultivation of only one type of plant or animal, is polyculture. While using less chemicals, polyculture can help control some pests, weeds, and illnesses. Due to biological nitrogen fixation, intercropping legumes with non-legumes can boost yields in low-nitrogen soils. However, due to competition amongst the mixed species for light, water, or nutrients, polyculture can lower crop yields. Because diverse species have varied growth rates, maturation times, and harvest requirements, management is made more difficult. Monocultures are easier to automate.

Track 19 : Livestock Farming

Organic Farming concentrates on livestock and animal farming. Studying the biology of animals that are kept under human control is referred to as "animal farming." The raising and control of farm animals are other terms for it. In the past, the degree was known as animal husbandry, and the animals studied included livestock animals including cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, and horses. Today's courses include a much wider range, including exotic species as well as companion animals like dogs and cats. As it ultimately increases product productivity and quality, stress management is now becoming a part of animal farming. Pigs and poultry are raised intensively indoors.

Track 20 : Agricultural waste management

An agricultural waste management system (AWMS) is a planned system in which all relevant parts are established and managed to control and use agricultural production byproducts in a way that maintains or improves the quality of air, water, soil, plant, animal, and energy resources. Producing commodities that can be sold is the main goal of the majority of agricultural businesses. The farm manager must successfully balance the demand on finite resources among numerous intricate and interconnected systems, frequently involving six fundamental functions: Production, Collection, Transfer, Storage, Treatment, and Utilization

Track 21 : Agricultural engineering

Agricultural engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with the design, creation, and advancement of farming machinery and equipment. Engineering in agriculture combines farming and technology. They create updated farming machinery, for instance, that may function more effectively or take on new responsibilities. Dams, water reservoirs, storage facilities, and other agricultural infrastructure are designed and constructed by them. Additionally, they may design strategies for huge farms to reduce pollution. From non-food sources like algae and agricultural waste, some agricultural engineers are creating new types of biofuels. Without compromising the availability of food, these fuels might economically and sustainably replace gasoline.

Track 22:  Agribusiness Management

Agricultural business management is the application of business principles to enhance the agricultural sector and farm output. Agricultural business management, also known as agribusiness management, applies business theories and techniques to the agricultural sector in order to reduce costs, increase revenues, and make sure that farm or food products are produced and distributed efficiently. Agribusiness, usually referred to as agricultural business, is the management, production, and sale of agricultural products including crops and cattle. Resource management, farming, conservation, and crop enhancement are all aspects of the agricultural business sector.

Track 23 : Food and nutrition security

A policy orientation for food security and safety includes state-level, prior, present, and future policy challenges, as well as cope-wise agriculture sustainability. The analysis of the changes in the food supply chain can be used to study the specific aspect of food distribution in current society. By confirming the scale impact in the food distribution business, globalisation, in particular, has substantial effects on the food supply chain. The difficulty in the field of food security has always been providing humans with enough basic nutrients. Therefore, malnutrition is closely related to the issue of food security but challenging to eradicate. Therefore, food security and policy take on a magnetic quality in the field of research. 

Track 24 : Cropping System 

The cropping system can be defined as the type and order of crops cultivated over time on a specific area of soil. It could involve cultivating a single crop on the same land each year or rotating different crops in a regular rhythm.

Types of cropping Systems:

• Mono cropping
• Crop Rotation
• Sequential Cropping
• Inter Cropping
• Relay Cropping

Track 25 : Digital Agriculture

Digital agriculture, sometimes referred to as smart farming or e-agricultural, refers to tools used in agriculture to gather, store, analyse, and distribute electronic data and/or information digitally. Precision agriculture is a part of digital agriculture, but it's not the only one. Digital agriculture, as opposed to precision agriculture, affects the entire agri-food value chain before, during, and after on-farm production. Therefore, on-farm technologies like yield mapping, GPS guiding systems, and variable-rate application fall under the purview of precision agriculture and digital agriculture. On the other hand, digital technologies used in e-commerce platforms, e-extension services, warehouse receipt systems, blockchain-enabled food traceability systems, tractor rental apps, etc. fall under the category of digital agriculture but not precision agriculture.

The 2022 Global Forecast for Smart Agriculture (2023-2028 Outlook) includes market facts and forecasts for more than 50 countries that are up-to-date and accurate. At a CAGR of xx% from 2023 to 2028, it is anticipated that the global market would grow from USD xx billion in 2022 to USD xx billion by 2028. Estimated sales of materials or equipment (the value of product shipments) are reported historically for the years 2016 to 2019, with projections for the years 2020 to 2022 and forecasts for the years 2023 to 2028. The total value of all goods produced and sent by all manufacturers is included in product shipments. This can indicate the value of sales, the value of manufacturing, or the worth of labour put in for a particular product. This study includes global and regional summaries in addition to more than 50 countries. Values for past and upcoming years' product shipments are shown in US dollars and local currency units.This research, which is released every year, uses a proprietary economic model that incorporates historical patterns to produce an original and accurate estimate of the market size for this equipment/material.

An updated market research report projects that the size of the global Agriculture Analytics Market will increase from USD 585 million in 2018 to USD 1,236 million in 2023, at a CAGR of 16.2% over the forecast period. The need to increase farm productivity and related agricultural operations, as well as the rising demand for specialist digital agriculture service providers that can deliver cloud-based analytics services, are key drivers of the worldwide agriculture analytics market. The demand for managed services in the Agriculture Analytics Market is expected to rise as a result of an increasing requirement to outsource field-related operations due to a manpower scarcity. Managed service providers gather, process, and analyse data with the use of their analytical tools in order to give farmers useful information. Farmers are able to forecast crop production, enhance crop cultivation, and make wiser decisions thanks to these practical information.Concerns about data security among end users are also helping on-premises farm analytics solutions spread more widely around the world. Due to their greater ability to invest, large farms are primarily using the on-premises agricultural analytics system.

On behalf of the Agriculture Asia-Pacific 2022 Organizing Committee, we take great pleasure in inviting all participants from around the world to attend the “Global Summit on Agriculture and Organic Farming” to be held from August 25-26, 2022 Melbourne, Australia. On the theme “ A Sustainable Eco-Friendly Agricultural Approach to Crop Improvement”.The Ongoing research on technologies and strategies,  sustainable agriculture and integrated agriculture, crop improvements, the Current updates in soil and plant science, agriculture, and organic farming are the characteristics of this conference. Lead presentations, disseminate data, foster networking with current and potential specialists, and create a sensation with the latest enhancements and recognition for participating in this second-day opportunity. Agriculture Asia Pacific 2022 empowers you to move, learn and adopt better approaches to improve professional career prospects in agriculture and organic coaching.